Bangladesh Journal of Pharmacology Volume: 15; Number 1; Year 2020 Cite this article as: Sundar RDV, Arunachalam S. Anti-inflammatory and antifungal activity of Dracaena victoria leaf extract. Bangladesh J Pharmacol. 2020; 15: 44-45. Anti-inflammatory and antifungal activity of Dracaena victoria leaf extract Sir, Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) are the commonly for the management of inflammatory condition. However, these medicines possess various adverse effects, particularly gastric irritation, ulceration that lead to gastric bleeding or perforation. Thus, in recent years, the search for phytochemicals and natural sources with anti-inflammatory properties has greatly increased (Gunathilake et al., 2018). From the genus Dracaena, Draceana angustifolia Roxb. was reported to have anti-inflammatory activity. This effect is mediated by two steroidal saponins drangustosides (A-B) (Hui-Chi et al., 2013). The anti- inflammatory effect of another plant of this genus Dracaena victoria is not yet known. The antibacterial activity of D. victoria leaf extract was reported (Ranjitha et al., 2019). Compared to ethyl acetate, petroleum ether extract showed significant antibacterial activity against L. monocytogenes at 100 mg/mL concentration. In the present study, anti-inflammatory and antifungal activity of this plant were examined. Dracaena victoria plant leaves were collected freshly from VIT, Vellore and sterilized by rinsing them with tap water followed by double distilled water. Then dried under shade at room temperature for two weeks. Using motor and pestle, dried leaves were powdered. About 10 g of powder was dissolved in 150 mL of ethyl acetate and petroleum ether solvent respectively. Then the mixture was sealed and kept in a shaker overnight. The mixture was filtered using Whatman filter paper and the dried crude extract was used for studying anti- inflammatory properties (Nagham, 2013; Anupam et al., 2008). The anti-inflammatory activity was tested by using the in vitro albumin denaturation method. Different concentrations of ethyl acetate and petroleum ether (50, 100, 150 µg/mL) were prepared in DMSO solvent. 2 mL of these extracts of different concentrations was added to the mixture containing 500 µL of 1% bovine serum albumin. This mixture was incubated and left undisturbed at room temperature (37°C) for 20 min. Then, it was heated at 51°C for 20 min. The solution obtained was cooled down to room temperature and absorbance was taken at 660 nm. Aspirin was used as a reference drug in the experiment. The experiment was carried out in triplicates and the %inhibition of protein denaturation was calculated (Gayathri et al., 2019). %Inhibition= Absorbance control—Absorbance test/ Absorbance control ×100 Antifungal activity of the leaf extract was determined using agar well diffusion assay. Potato dextrose agar medium was prepared and poured into a petri plate. Based on the availability, Irpex lacteus used as test strain. The fungal strain was prepared as lawn over the solidified media. Wells were prepared and 100 µL of the crude extract obtained from both solvents (ethyl acetate and petroleum ether) of concentration 2.5, 5, 100 mg/ mL were added. The plates were incubated at 25°C for 3 days. After the incubation, petri plates were tested for the zone of inhibition. Fluconazole was used as a positive control (Ranjitha et al., 2019). Thin-layer chromatography was done for both the extracts, the sample was prepared by dissolving the extracts in their respective solvent and the spots were made on the TLC sheet. By testing solvents at different proportions the optimal solvent system was confirmed. The solvent system used here is petroleum ether: acetone (7:3). The separated bands were viewed under UV wavelength of 254 nm (Gayathri et al., 2019). Compared to petroleum ether extract, ethyl acetate showed maximum activity. Ethyl acetate extract show- ed maximum activity at 50 µg/mL concentration which is related to standard ascorbic acid value. The in vitro anti-inflammatory activity of the extracts was shown in Figure 1. Both the extracts showed substantial inhibition on test fungi Irpex lacteus. Compared to petroleum ether, ethyl acetate extract showed maximum activity. The zone of inhibition was shown in Table I and Figure 2. Both the extracts produced a distinctive bands in the TLC sheet at 7:3 (petroleum ether: acetone) solvent system and the results were shown in Figure 2. The antibacterial activity of D. victoria ethyl acetate and petroleum ether extract showed significant antibacterial activity against L. monocytogenes at 100 mg/mL concentration (Ranjitha et al., 2019). The present study highlights that the extracts (ethyl acetate and petroleum ether) from D. Victoria serves as A Journal of the Bangladesh Pharmacological Society (BDPS) Bangladesh J Pharmacol 2020; 15: 44-45 Journal homepage: www.banglajol.info Abstracted/indexed in Academic Search Complete, Agroforestry Abstracts, Asia Journals Online, Bangladesh Journals Online, Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS Previews, CAB Abstracts, Current Abstracts, Directory of Open Access Journals, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Global Health, Google Scholar, HINARI (WHO), International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Open J-gate, Science Citation Index Expanded, SCOPUS and Social Sciences Citation Index ISSN: 1991-0088; DOI: 10.3329/bjp.v15i1.44399 Letter to the Editor This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You are free to copy, distribute and perform the work. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor a potential antifungal and anti-inflammatory agent under in vitro condition. On comparing both the extracts, ethyl acetate extract showed significant anti- inflammatory and antifungal activity. The authors thank the Vellore Institute of Technology for providing the lab facility to carry out this study. Ranjitha Dhevi V. Sundar and Sathiavelu Arunachalam School of Biosciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 14, India. Corresponding author: email: asathiavelu@vit.ac.in References Anupam G, Bidus KD, Arup R, Biplab M, Goutam C. Antibacterial activity of some medicinal plant extracts. J Nat Med. 2008; 62: 259-62. Gayathri S, Ranjitha DVS, Saranya S, Lokesh R. Phytochemical profiles, in vitro antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antibac- terial activities of Terminalia catappa. Int J Pharm Sci Rev Res. 2019; 55: 51-59. Gunathilake KDPP, Ranaweera KKDS, Vasantha Rupasingh HP. In vitro anti-inflammatory properties of selected green leafy vegetables. Biomedicines 2018; 6: 107. Hui-Chi H, Ming-Kuem L, Syh-Yuan, Tsong-Long H, Yao- Haur K, Chi-I C, Chung-Yi O, Yueh-Hsiung K. Two anti- inflammatory steroidal saponins from Dracaena angustifolia Roxb. Molecules 2013; 18: 8752-76. Nagham MA. Study effect of medical plant extracts in comparison with antibiotic against bacteria. J Sci Innov Res. 2013; 2: 843-45. Ranjitha DVS, Mythili S. A comparative study on phyto- chemical screening, antioxidant and antimicrobial capacities of leaf extracts from medicinal plants. Res J Pharm Tech. 2019; 12: 361-66. Bangladesh J Pharmacol 2020; 15: 44-45 45 Table I Antifungal activity of the leaf extracts Extract Concentration (mg) Zone of inhibition (cm) Ethyl acetate 2.5 1.0 5 1.2 10 1.3 Positive control - Petroleum ether 2.5 0.5 5 0.9 10 1 Positive control - “-”: No zone of inhibition observed In hi bi tio n pe rc en ta ge 100 80 60 40 20 0 50 100 150 Concentration (µg/mL) Figure 1: In vitro anti-inflammatory activity of the crude ex- tracts by showing the inhibition of albumin saturation Petroleum ether Figure 2: TLC sheet of the ethyl acetate and petroleum ether extracts (A-D); Antifungal activity of petroleum ether and ethyl ace- tate extracts (E,F) Ethyl acetate Petrole- um ether Ethyl acetate Petrole- um ether Petroleum ether Ethyl acetate Under normal light Under UV 254 nm Antifungal activity Antifungal activity A B C D E F Ethyl acetate Standard mailto:asathiavelu@vit.ac.in